System and method for dynamically presenting a list of items

• US 6,772,173 B1
• Filed: 12/02/2000
• Issued: 08/03/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Shao, Victor, McGee, Michael, Jiang, Rushan, Abkowitz, David, Jupudy, Ravi, Lima, Rodrigo
• Primary Examiner(s): Metjahic, Safet
• Assistant Examiner(s): AL HASHEMI, SANA A
• Application Number:
  US09/728,802
• Time in Patent Office: 1,340 Days
• Field of Search: 707/102, 707/2, 707/104.1, 707/100
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A system and method are provided for presenting a list of items to a user via a device having a limited display capability. In general, the number of items in the list may be much greater than the device can display at once. A list module is configured to receive a list of items and determine the number of items, or ranges of items, that may be displayed at once. If the list contains too many items to be displayed on one card, the list module divides them into groups nearly equal in size, so that to display any one item requires the same or nearly the same number of cards. Until each range is less than or equal to the number of items that can be displayed simultaneously, the list module presents (e.g., transmits to the device) cards having successively smaller ranges. Eventually a card will have few enough items to be displayed individually, and the user may make a final selection.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of presenting a list of items, comprising:

(a) receiving a list of N items intended for presentation to a user;

(b) dividing said items into a plurality of ranges, each of said ranges comprising a subset of said items;

(c) presenting said plurality of ranges for display to the user;

(d) accepting a selection, from the user, of a first range in said plurality of ranges;

and

(e) if the size of said first range is greater than one, repeating steps (b) through (e) for the items in said first range, wherein the size of said first range comprises the number of items in said first range;

wherein the size of each range in each said plurality of ranges differs from the size of each other range in said plurality of ranges by no more than one.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user is presented said items via a device, and said receiving a list of items comprises receiving a list from an electronic service accessed by the user.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

if the size of said first range is equal to one, forwarding the selection of the item in said first range to the electronic service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting comprises identifying said ranges to a device configured to display said items to the user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said accepting comprises receiving from the device an identification of one of said plurality of ranges.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said presenting comprises displaying said ranges for the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said dividing comprises determining the number S of items that may be simultaneously displayed to the user.

8. A computer-implemented method of facilitating the selection of an item from a list of items, by a user of a device having a relatively limited display area, comprising:

(a) receiving a connection from a user;

(b) receiving a list of items for presentation to the user on a device having a display;

(c) identifying a plurality of ranges, each of said ranges covering a subset of said items, wherein the number of items in any one subset of said plurality of subsets differs from any one other of said subsets by no more than one;

(d) accepting, from the user, a selection of one of said plurality of ranges; and

(e) if said subset associated with said selected range comprises more than one item, performing steps (c) through (e) for the items in said selected range.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

(f) if said subset includes only one item, accepting selection of said one item.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said receiving a connection comprises receiving a wireless connection from a wireless telephone configured for accessing a public network.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein said receiving a list comprises:

accessing an information source on behalf of the user; and

receiving from the information source a list from which the user is to make a selection.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein said identifying a plurality of ranges comprises identifying a plurality of ranges of items for display to the user.

13. A computer-implemented method of facilitating the selection of an item from multiple items, comprising:

(a) receiving a set of N items, wherein said items are intended for representation to a user via a communication device for selection of one of said items by the user;

(b) determining the number of items, denoted S, that can be simultaneously displayed on the device;

(c) if N<

=S, identifying said items for display to the user;

(d) if S<

N<

=S²;

calculating the smallest number A that is a multiple of S such that A>

=N;

calculating the quotient B of A/S;

calculating the quotient C and remainder D of N/B;

presenting the user with B subsets of said items, wherein the size of each of D of said B subsets is C+1 and the size of each of the other (B-D) subsets of said B subsets, if (B-D)>

0, is C;

accepting a selection of one of said B subsets; and

performing said step (c) for the items in said selected subset; and

(e) if N>

S²;

calculating the quotient G and remainder H of N/S;

presenting the user with S subsets of said items, wherein the size of each of H of said S subsets is (G+1) and the size of each of the other (S-H) subsets, if (S-H)>

0, is G;

accepting a selection of one of said S subsets; and

performing said step (e) for the items in said selected subset;

wherein said user may select one of said displayed items.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said receiving a set of items comprises receiving identifiers of said items.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein said receiving a set of items comprises receiving a list of items from which the user is to select an item.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein said presenting the user with B subsets of said items comprises identifying said B subsets to the device for display to the user.

17. A computer-implemented method of facilitating the selection of an item from multiple items, comprising:

(a) receiving a number N of items, wherein said items are intended for representation to a user via a communication device for selection of one of said items by the user;

(b) determining the number S of items that can be simultaneously displayed on the device;

(c) if N<

=S, identifying said items for display to the user;

(d) if N>

S and N<

2*S;

presenting said user with a first subset of said items; and

if said user makes a selection other than one of said first subset of items, presenting said user with said items other than said first subset of items;

(e) if N>

2*S and N<

S²;

calculating the smallest number A that is a multiple of S such that A>

=N;

calculating the quotient B of A/S;

calculating the quotient C and remainder D of N/B;

presenting the user with B subsets of said items, wherein the size of each of D of said B subsets is C+1 and the size of each of the other (B-D) subsets of said B subsets, if (B-D)>

0, is C;

accepting a selection of one of said B subsets; and

performing said step (c) for the items in said selected subset; and

(f) if N>

S²;

calculating the quotient G and remainder H of N/S;

presenting the user with S subsets of said items, wherein the size of each of H of said S subsets is (G+1) and the size of each of the other (S-H) subsets, if (S-H)>

0, is G;

accepting a selection of one of said S subsets; and

performing said step (e) for the items in said selected subset;

wherein said user may select one of said displayed items.

18. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of facilitating the selection of an item from a list of items, by a user of a device having a relatively limited-display area, the method comprising:

(a) receiving a connection from a user;

(b) receiving a list of items for presentation to the user on a device having a display;

(c) identifying a plurality of ranges, each of said ranges covering a subset of said items, wherein the number of items in any one subset of said plurality of subsets differs from any one other of said subsets by no more than one;

(d) accepting, from the user, a selection of one of said plurality of ranges; and

(e) if said subset associated with said selected range comprises more than one item, performing steps (c) through (e) for the items in said selected range.

19. An automated system for presenting a list of items to a user, comprising:

a service module configured to provide a service to the user, wherein said service comprises presenting a list of items from which a selection can be made; and

a list module configured to present said list of items by;

(a) identifying a plurality of ranges, each of said ranges comprising a subset of said items;

(b) presenting said plurality of ranges to the user;

(c) accepting a selection of one of said plurality of ranges by the user; and

(d) if said subset associated with said selected range comprises more than one item, performing steps (a) through (d) for the items in said selected range.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said service module comprises said list module.

21. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

a communication device used by the user to access said service, wherein said list is presented to the user via said device.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein said list module is configured to determine a display capability of a communication device on which said list will be presented.

23. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of facilitating the selection of an item from multiple items, the method comprising:

(a) receiving a set of N items, wherein said items are intended for representation to a user via a communication device for selection of one of said items by the user;

(b) determining the number of items, denoted S, that can be simultaneously displayed on the device;

(c) if N<

=S, identifying said items for display to the user;

(d) if S<

N<

=S²;

calculating the smallest number A that is a multiple of S such that A>

=N;

calculating the quotient B of A/S;

calculating the quotient C and remainder D of N/B;

presenting the user with B subsets of said items, wherein the size of each of D of said B subsets is C+1 and the size of each of the other (B-D) subsets of said B subsets, if (B-D)>

0, is C;

accepting a selection of one of said B subsets; and

performing said step (c) for the items in said selected subset; and

(e) if N>

S²;

calculating the quotient G and remainder H of N/S;

presenting the user with S subsets of said items, wherein the size of each of H of said S subsets is (G+1) and the size of each of the other (S-H) subsets, if (S-H)>

0, is G;

accepting a selection of one of said S subsets; and

performing said step (e) for the items in said selected subset;

wherein said user may select one of said displayed items.

24. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of facilitating the selection of an item from multiple items, the method comprising:

(a) receiving a number N of items, wherein said items are intended for representation to a user via a communication device for selection of one of said items by the user;

(b) determining the number S of items that can be simultaneously displayed on the device;

(c) if N<

=S, identifying said items for display to the user;

(d) if N>

S and N<

2*S;

presenting said user with a first subset of said items; and

if said user makes a selection other than one of said first subset of items, presenting said user with said items other than said first subset of items;

(e) if N>

2*S and N<

=S²;

calculating the smallest number A that is a multiple of S such that A>

=N;

calculating the quotient B of A/S;

calculating the quotient C and remainder D of N/B;

presenting the user with B subsets of said items, wherein the size of each of D of said B subsets is C+1 and the size of each of the other (B-D) subsets of said B subsets, if (B-D)>

0, is C;

accepting a selection of one of said B subsets; and

performing said step (c) for the items in said selected subset; and

(f) if N>

S²;

calculating the quotient G and remainder H of N/S;

presenting the user with S subsets of said items, wherein the size of each of H of said S subsets is (G+1) and the size of each of the other (S-H) subsets, if (S-H)>

0, is G;

accepting a selection of one of said S subsets; and

performing said step (e) for the items in said selected subset;

wherein said user may select one of said displayed items.

25. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of presenting a list of items, the method comprising:

(a) receiving a list of N items intended for presentation to a user;

(b) dividing said items into a plurality of ranges, each of said ranges comprising a subset of said items;

(c) presenting said plurality of ranges for display to the user;

(d) accepting a selection, from the user, of a first range in said plurality of ranges; and

(e) if the size of said first range is greater than one, repeating steps (b) through (e) for the items in said first range, wherein the size of said first range comprises the number of items in said first range;

wherein the size of each range in each said plurality of ranges differs from the size of each other range in said plurality of ranges by no more than one.